THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 1909 OPENING THE LAND.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 134, 25 February 1909, Page 2

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 1909 OPENING THE LAND.

At different times throughout the Dominion is heard the cry of the unemployed. Frequently the cry is in the direction of impossible things, and always the clamour arises for the opening of the land. The Prime Minister, in replying to the unemployed deputation at Auckland on Saturday last, laid special stress on a vigorous land settlement policy, and the vital necessity and importance of such a policy in doing away with the unemployed difficulty. The Minister for Public Works, during his tour of the North, has made frequent reference the amount of country locked up —more particularly Native owned land, and Mr McKenzie I was moved to characterise it as almost a crime to see land lying idle and unproductive. Incidentally it may be remarked that Southern members have a habit of making similar remarks when they come North, but the land continues to be idle and unproductive. In a country like New Zealand, where great internal development is being undertaken on borrowed money, it is obvious to all intetlingent people that the only excuse for continuing such a policy is the bringing of the whole of the available land into production at the earliest possible time. Vast expenditure is being undertaken in the matter of roads, railways and other public works, and as long as the money lasts and work continues land values in town and country must increase in value. Such values, however, can only be maintained providing the country shows a corresponding increase in productiveness, and the only means to such an end is the settling of the land. It is widely proclaimed that the present money stringency is merely of a temporary nature, and the outlook in general is reassuring. At the same time it must be admitted that there is imminent danger of a recurrence of the trouble in a more aggravated form unless our lands are opened more vigorously. and our exports swelled correspondingly. The King Country, with its vast areas of fertile land; its forests of fine timber, to say nothing •of its coal, flax, and other natural resources was practically'a closed book until a very few years ago. Even yet the question of Native lands remains a problem to be solved in a satisfactory manner, and the two hundred and fifty thousand acres which are to be cut up and opened for settlement in the near future, is but a tithe of the total of unoccupied land in the district. Moreover, the period at which this land is to bceome productive must be dated several years ahead. In the North, and throughout the length and breadth of the Auckland province the same story can be old. Lands are lying idle which should be adding to the wealth of the country, and, be those lands Native owned or otherwise, it is of paramount importance that they should be settled. Immigration is regarded by the town worker as the cause of his distress and naturally Sir Joseph Ward pointed out the fallacy of the theory. A country with a population of a million, when it is capable of carrying twenty times that number, should, on the face of things, have no unemployed difficult}'. The Premier overlooked the important fact that the country could not carry anything until the land was made available. We trust that recent Ministerial experience, combined with the conditions prevailing throughout the Dominion at present, will spur the Government to greater efforts in opening both Crown and Native owned lands. If such a happy consummation ensues, the experience of the Ministers -even the hardships of the people—will not have been profitless.